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Stunned neighbors, friends and political heavyweights including Gov. Cuomo are remembering Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam as a pioneering "force for good" as they cope with the abject shock of her sudden death.

Abdus-Salaam, the first black woman appointed to New York state's highest court and the first Muslim woman to serve as a U.S. judge, was found dead in the Hudson River off Manhattan Wednesday afternoon, a day after she was reported missing, authorities said.

Her body showed no obvious signs of trauma and police said there was no indication of criminality. The medical examiner's office is investigating.

The 65-year-old Manhattan resident was elected to the Supreme Court of the State of New York in 1993, where she remained until 2009. She was serving on the New York State Court of Appeals, the highest court in New York State, before her death. She was appointed to the position by Cuomo in 2013.

In a statement Wednesday, Cuomo called Abdus-Salaam a "pioneer" and a "force for good whose legacy will be felt for years to come."

Others recalled Abdus-Salaam as an inspiration to all who had the good fortune to know her. Chief Judge Janet DiFiore recalled her "personal warmth, uncompromising sense of fairness and bright legal mind."

Former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said he knew Abdus-Salaam for many years.

A Washington, D.C., native, Abdus-Salaam graduated from Barnard College with a degree in economics in 1974 and went on to receive her law degree from Columbia University in 1977 as a Charles Evans Hughes Fellow.

The president of the New York State Bar Association, Claire Gutekunst, said Abdus-Salaam grew up poor in a family of seven children and "rose to become one of the seven judges in New York's highest court, where her intellect, judicial temperament and wisdom earned her wide respect."